How The Wonderful Company Created a Wine Brand for Millennial Rosé Lovers in Under a Year

Introducing JNSQ's Rosé Cru and Sauvignon Blanc

Little about The Wonderful Company’s new wine brand is practical. Brought from conception to market in less than a year, the JNSQ brand recently came on the market with a line of rosé and sauvignon blanc—in the middle of winter. The ornate packaging was inspired by vintage luxury perfume bottles, created by a French glass designer and features resealable glass stoppers for reusability.

Armed with the insight that preferences among millennial wine drinkers, and millennial women in particular, had shifted toward rosé and sauvignon blanc, marketers at The Wonderful Company—best-known for Fiji Water and Pistachios—decided to create a new wine brand: JNSQ.

The new brand was designed to sit somewhere between lower tier brands and more expensive options, with an eye-grabbing bottle designed with reusability in mind. JNSQ Rosé Cru and JNSQ Sauvignon Blanc are made with grapes from the Central Coast region and created “in the classic French style,” according to a release.

“Millennial women and older Gen Z’ers are bringing back an appreciation for quality, craftsmanship and functional beauty,” The Wonderful Company co-owner Lynda Resnick said in a statement. “JNSQ was created specifically for these women and the milestones they are celebrating in their blossoming and exhilarating lives. It’s a wine made with that same shared quality of je ne sais quoi that makes each of these ladies unique, memorable and unstoppable.”

JNSQ Rosé Cru and JNSQ Sauvignon Blanc made their debut alongside the Fall/Winter 2019 collection from California-born designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, who brought their show to Los Angeles (instead of New York Fashion Week) on Feb. 5.

Michael Perdigao, president of the company’s internal agency, Wonderful Agency, explained that the JNSQ release was timed to early February “because we thought it would be a great introduction for Valentine’s Day” and “no other rosés would be launching at this particular moment.”

Wonderful Agency CCO Darren Moran noted that the bottle’s reusability was part of the original design brief and helped drive a design that was “more elegant and unusual.”

The wine's packaging was inspired by vintage luxury perfume bottles.

“We wanted to make sure the bottle stood out on the shelf and stood out to our audience in a way that said, ‘Nobody’s ever done a wine like this before,'” he said. “Frankly, I’m shocked that we were able to sell it for $29 a bottle because we’ve never been shy about putting our money into packaging and design and the marketing to create something special, and it really feels like a much more expensive bottle of wine.”

The process was not easy.

“We had to go back and forth with numerous bottle makers to figure out how to even make it,” he said. “Most of the time the most memorable, effective work is the work that was the hardest to make and the work that people told you was impossible. It turns out that applies to package design as well.”

That eye-grabbing bottle “drove a lot of the decisions around everything we did around the wine, including the name,” he added.

Following Resnick’s initial inspiration and under her continual guidance, Wonderful Agency handled all aspects of the brand’s rollout, bringing it to market it under a year.

“While there are a lot of in-house agencies,” Moran said, “maybe none have as many disciplines under one roof, literally sitting next to each other, to be able to do something like this.”

Moran said the internal agency’s female millennial talent, including some of its agency’s youngest junior creatives, were instrumental throughout the creative process.

“A couple of them I promoted midway through the project because they did phenomenal work,” he said.

The JNSQ brand rolled out for Valentine’s Day in most major markets and is available nationwide via the brand’s website.

The print ads further the brand's retro feel.

Supporting the release is a national campaign titled “She’s got that … JNSQ.”

A series of print ads shot by a fashion photographer furthers the retro feel of the brand, evoking Paris circa the 1950s and 1960s and advertising’s Mad Men era. There’s also a billboard in Times Square.

Cinematics extend visuals from the print campaign with dreamy animation.

A social media campaign includes brand teasers.

Influencer marketing also played a sizable role in promoting the brand. In addition to leveraging paid social media influencers, The Wonderful Agency sent out a special, Instagram-ready vintage hat box gift package, complete with two glasses with an image of a rose and a bottle of JNSQ, to over 50 influential celebrities on social media to introduce them to the brand.

Perdigao explained that the gift package is also available for sale, primarily through e-commerce.

“We thought that would be a nice gift for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day,” he said.

The vintage hat box gift package is also for sale.

The brand is planning to roll out a further campaign in spring, in conjunction with what is typically thought of as rosé season, noted Moran.

The work is already gaining traction: Perdigao said the velocity of sales for the JNSQ brand is three times what its forecast was and three times that of The Wonderful Company’s other wine brands, Justin and Landmark varieties.